Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pan for a grain conveying auger and in particular to a contoured pan with ridges to improve transport efficiency.
Description of the Prior Art
Harvesters such as combine harvesters for harvesting corn and other crops are well known. Such harvesters have a head that includes multiple gathering assemblies arranged side by side transverse to the direction of travel and spaced so that the harvester moves along the rows and gathers in the stalks of corn and separates the ears. The gathering assemblies generally direct the ears to a cross-conveyor such as an auger extending transverse to the direction of travel and conveying the corn towards a center conveyor for further threshing and/or storage. Such augers typically include a left side and right side rotating a continuous helical blade that engages the ears of corn and imparts a movement along the bottom of a trough formed by an auger pan toward the center.
Although such auger conveying systems generally perform satisfactorily, problems can occur. As the pan forms a generally smooth trough in prior art augers, the ears of corn may slide within the trough rather than being moved longitudinally along the auger. Therefore, the helical blade imparts both a longitudinal movement parallel to the rotational axis of the auger as well as radial lateral type movement transverse to the longitudinal axis of the auger shaft. If the auger rotates and the ears of corn simply slide upward along a smooth surface, they may fall off of the helical blade or carried over the center core and back to the bottom of the trough to be engaged by a next spiraling blade portion. However, such lifting movement decreases movement along the desired transport direction. Moreover, ears of corn may be damaged or beaten repeatedly by the rotation of the blades.
In order for the transport efficiency of such an auger to improve, the material must have some friction or resistance to sliding transverse to the longitudinal transport direction. However, such friction or resistance must not impede the motion too much as this may cause clogging or damage to the conveyed material. The present invention addresses these as well as other problems associated with efficiently transporting material along a helical auger.